The Millennium Stadium and MasterCard among the Winners at the 2011 Rugby Expo Awards

November 25, 2011

The Millennium Stadium, pharm MasterCard and Pitchero turned out big winners at the 2011 Rugby Expo at Twickenham in London.

Cardiff’s Millenium stadium picked up the gong for rugby venue of the year while MasterCard picked up the sponsor of the year award and Pitchero claimed the marketing innovation award. The other winners included Play Rugby USA (community programme of the year), Rhino Rugby (technical innovation award) and Ellingham and Ringwood RFC (junior club of the year. The special award that is the most outstanding contribution to rugby award went to former Scottish rugby player Sir Ian McGeechan.

“The Rugby Expo Awards 2011 has been a great success,” Wasps CEO Tony Copsey said.

“The nominees made our job as a judging panel very difficult, with a number of deserving entries. With plans already in place for Rugby Expo 2012, we’re looking forward to building on the success of this year’s event and reinforcing Rugby Expo as the business event for the world of rugby.”

While the first day of the Rugby focused on the professional game, the second day switched to the grass roots where it was revealed that more than two million people in Britain are currently exposed to rugby at participation level. However, the problems that still exist at that level of became evident as former RFU tournaments director Terry Burwell revealed that there had been a reduction of sponsorship and consumer spending in the grass roots.